Immunity
Ability of an organism to recognize and defend itself against specific pathogens or antigens.
Immunology
science that studies the structure and functioning of the immune system.
Immune system
Made up of cells and molecules that make up the body’s defense system against disease-causing agents.
2 primary functions:
1. Recognition of, and defense against foreign substances.
2. Establishment of immunosurveillance.
430 BC
Plague of Athens, persons who recovered only could nurse the sick.
15th century
Arabs and Chinese, infecting individuals with materials from the pustules of smallpox patients, providing a mild form of disease and induced immunity.
1718
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu performed variolation.
1796
Birth of immunology
Edward Jenner improved variolation; observed milkmaid who contracted cowpox rarely contracted smallpox. Called the technique as vaccination.
1979
Smallpox was eradicated.
50 years after, most European countries initiated compulsory vaccination program.
Louis Pasteur
Formulated the germ theory of disease.
He was interested in preventing diseases caused by microorganisms.
Used vaccines to induce immunity.
Worked with the the bacteria that caused chicken cholera.
Discovered the first attenuated vaccine.
Attenuation or change may occur through:
Rabies vaccine discovery by Pasteur
He recognized that the cns was affected.
Spinal cords left to dry for a few days were less infectious to laboratory animals than fresh spinal cord.
Boy got bitten by a dog got vaccinated a series of 12 injections beginning with material from the least infectious cords and progressing to the fresher, more infectious material.
Other attenuated vaccines of Pasteur:
Other Types of Vaccines used today:
The discovery of phagocytosis:
Discovered by Elie Metchnikoff.
Cells that eat cells.
Immunity to disease was based on the action of these scavenger cells.
Birth of humoral immunity
Noncellular elements in the blood were responsible for protection from microorganisms.
Cellular vs Humoral Immunity
Almoth Wright linked the two theories.
Observed that certain humoral, or circulating, factors called opsonins acted to coat bacteria so that they became more susceptible to ingestion by phagocytic cells.
Non-specific serum factors known as antibodies and nonspecific factors known as acute-phase reactants increase non-specifically in any infection.
Functions of the Immune System
Properties of the Immune System
4 R’s of the Immune Response:
Natural immunity
born with it; innate
Factors influencing natural immunity:
Nonspecific defense mechanisms
First line of defense: - Skin - Mucous membranes - Secretions of skin and mucous membranes Second line of defense - Phagocytic white blood cells - Antimicrobial proteins - The inflammatory response
Specific defense mechanisms (immune system)
Third line of defense:
External defense ( First line of defense)
Physical barrier ( epithelial cells, pH of skin surface, trapping of bacteria in mucus)